Becoming Death
by PadawanMage
Summary: A simple tag scene where the Doctor reflects on what needs to be done as he and Jack are about to make their insane dash against the Dalek fleet to rescue Rose. Set just after 'Bad Wolf'. Read and Review!


**Title:** "Becoming Death"

**Spoilers:** Up to 'Bad Wolf'

**Summary:** A simple tag scene where the Doctor reflects on what needs to be done as he and Jack are about to make their insane dash against the Dalek fleet to rescue Rose.

**Author's Note:** My take on ideas of what the Doctor might be contemplating just prior to 'The Parting of The Ways'. I'm intentionally vague as to what _exactly_ the Doctor will do since I want to leave it open to the imagination, not to mention the fact that the show will probably show a cooler way.

The title came to me as a result of remembering the Doctor had something to do with whatever annihilated both the Dalek fleet and Gallifrey, as well as a certain passage quoted by a famous physicist.

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"I'm coming to get you."

The look of relief on Rose's face as the Doctor said those five simple words was the last thing he witnessed before he cut the transmission with a flick of his sonic screwdriver. That same look, that same trust – even though Rose was surrounded by Daleks – was indelibly marked into his psyche for the rest of his life. Now it was time to time to truly earn that trust – no matter the cost. He glanced over at a resolute Captain Jack.

"You coming or staying?"

Instead of answering, the captain merely grabbed the altered 'Defabricator' and ran with the Doctor for the TARDIS. Jack stowed the weapon nearby and started flipping switches and pushing knobs on the main console. He then glanced back at the Doctor but found him looking right out into space with an inscrutable expression on his face.

"Doctor – " Jack started, but was hushed into silence by a raised hand.

That same hand slowly came down and rested on a cover to a little used panel on the console. The Doctor stared at it bleakly, lost in thought to a time when two of the supposedly last survivors of the last great Time War had confronted one another.

_"I watched it happen – I _made_ it happen!"_

Yes, he had said that, hadn't he? Now it looked like he would have to make it happen again. Not as big as before, to be sure, since he was only talking about two hundred ships instead of one million. At least Earth shouldn't be affected by what he was planning.

With shaky hands, the Doctor opened the panel and started working the controls underneath.

Jack looked on, confused, until the Doctor finished and leaned on the TARDIS console, head hanging low.

"You have to promise me something," The Doctor said quietly

Jack frowned. "What?"

"Once we find Rose and bring her back, the Daleks will then stop at nothing: they'll invade this station just to get to me. From there, they'll move on to Earth." He stood up, walked over, and gripped both of Harkness' shoulders. "When I tell you – the second I tell you – to leave, I want you to grab Rose, throw her into the TARDIS and get the hell out of here as fast as you can. No looking back and rescues."

Jack's eyes widened in realization. "You're not planning on coming back…are you?"

The Time Lord smiled sadly. "All our travels, everything we've done and seen has all been for a purpose – not the Daleks, but someone else's." His face hardened. "Right here, right now it ends. It's time to play by _my_ rules: the last Time Lord against half a million Dalek survivors." He barked a laugh. "Pretty good odds, don't you think?"

Jack shook his head with a forlorn look in his eye. "Rosie'll never forgive you."

The Doctor sighed. "She will…well, she _might_…given time." He straightened his shoulders. "So…I want you to promise me: when I give the word, you go. The Daleks will almost certainly focus on me, so that should give you a little time."

Jack swallowed at the look of determination on the other's face. After a moment, however, he nodded with a sigh. "Now I wish I had bought you that drink when we landed in Cardiff."

"I thought you said it was such hard work?"

Abashed, Jack shrugged. "Yeah, well…that's just the way I flirt."

"Is there ever a time when you don't flirt?" The Doctor said and playfully tried to whap Jack on the side of his head when he looked to be seriously pondering the question. He then went back to his side of the console and glanced back at Harkness with a slight grin.

"Ready?"

Jack smirked. "To take on two hundred ships filled with half a million Daleks with something that looks like a 1960's telephone box, armed with nothing but my 'Defrabicator' (what does a Dalek look like naked, anyway?) and your sonic screwdriver – with absolutely no plan whatsoever, might I add?"

The Doctor grinned maniacally. "Yep."

"Well," Jack said with a shrug. "I was originally going to go out with a bang before you guys rescued me, so…"

"Fantastic!" the Doctor said and pulled a switch. The TARDIS, as if feeling the urgency of the moment, slipped out of space and doggedly sped towards the armada. On a screen, the Doctor caught sight of the myriad smaller ships forming a defensive perimeter around the larger mother ship. He sobered as the ships grew larger by the moment, missile ports opening up and pointed in their direction.

_"Everything has its time and everything dies."_

The Doctor ignored the smaller ships and resolutely focused on the mother ship.

Hang on, Rose…I'm coming.

**-FIN-**


End file.
